6 HR Phone Screening Questions You Must Know

If you don’t have a good answer to HR Phone Screening Questions, you’re not going to get the job.

This is crucial in moving on to the next round of interviews with the hiring manager and team.

March 2, 2024 by Kazu Fujimoto

What is an HR Phone Screening?

An HR Phone Screening is the initial interview that you have when you apply for a job at any company.

It’s a sanity check for the company to confirm that you’re “normal” and that you are who you say you are. This is to make sure that you are everything that you say you are on your resume.

They will ask these six questions:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why are you interested in this position
• Why are you interested in working at this company?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• Why should we hire you?
• Walk me through your resume

Make sure you have a good answer for each of these questions to ensure that you get to the next round.

Tell me about yourself

This is the question that you need to be prepared to answer at all times in an interview. It’s also good to have a basic elevator pitch of yourself down. This way, you have a good sense of who you are and can communicate that to colleagues, customers, or executives.

You should answer this question from a business standpoint, not from a personal standpoint. Don’t say this from a “what you want” standpoint and instead say this from a “what you can offer to the company” standpoint.

I’m a Product Design Engineer that has been designing vertical turbine pumps in the Oil and Gas Industry for four years. Prior to that, I worked as a Manufacturing Engineering supporting aviation and defense applications. My skillsets include CAD, manufacturing, analysis, and test engineering. And I’m here today interviewing for the Engineering position with your company.

-Tell me about yourself answer

Why are you interested in this position?

Employers will be gauging your interest in the position that you’re applying for. They want to make sure that you have an interest and not just there to collect a pay check. You will need a good reason as to why you’re interested in the position. This will make you stand out more and put the company at ease when they think of hiring you.

Companies are always scared of people job hopping and always look to hire employees from a long term outlook as this saves them both time and money on hiring costs.

I’m interested in this position because the job requires skillsets in engineering, bill of materials generation, supply chain management, and systems integration. A bulk of these skillsets represent skills to further develop my career growth plans.

-Why are you interested in this position answer

Why are you interested in working at this company?

Along with the specific position that you’re applying for, employers will be looking to understand your interest at the company. Does the company have a certain mission that aligns with your goals regarding what you want to do with your career? If so, then you’ll need to be able to tell the employer that.

An interview is not just the employer looking to see if you can do the job, but to also make sure you’re the right fit for the team.

I’m interested in working at this company because the company’s mission aligns with my goals. I’ve always been looking to do work that specializes in sustainable manufacturing practices. There is a lot of room for growth and innovation regarding sustainable manufacturing and I would love to be involved in this transition.

Why are you interested in working at this company answer

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Companies will also be using the “Where do you see yourself in five years” question to gauge your long term interest. Companies don’t want you to job hop, and they will use questions such as these to filter the potential job hoppers.

I see myself as an engineer that utilizes skills in design, analysis, test, and manufacturing in my day to day career that impacts the work of the aerospace and defense industry.

Where do you see yourself in five years answer

Why should we hire you?

We recommend that you be prepared to answer this question just to get you in the right mindset. When you go in an interview, you need to understand that you are the prize, and the company should be lucky to have you. This confident mindset will help you perform better in interviews. This type of mindset will also help you land more jobs.

You should hire me because I have a proven track record in getting things done. I’ve achieved a 100% on time Bill of Materials (BOM) completion for millions of dollars worth of automotive machined parts. My mantra has always been to get things done and I have clearly been able to find a solution to each of the problems that I had come across.

Why should we hire you interview answer

Walk me through your resume

The HR Phone screening also gives a chance for you to walk through your resume. This is a quick sanity check for both the company and HR to ensure that you are what you say you are on your resume.

I’m currently a 4th year student at University of California at Berkley and studying Mechanical Engineering. Throughout my university experience, I’ve had two internships. My first internship was at JPL where I was a test engineering intern for rocket propulsion systems. My second internship was at Ford, where I was determining manufacturing processes for camshafts and associated parts.

I’m currently involved in the BAJA SAE project, where I’m the Design Lead for the suspension. The BAJA project is where we as a group of engineering students design and develop an off-roading vehicle in which we compete at the end of the school year among other students.

My academic engineering career has been very challenging, but fulfilling.

Walk me through your resume interview answer

Why do companies ask all of these HR Phone Screening Questions

Companies perform HR Phone Screenings to double check that you meet the job requirements.

HR Managers or recruiters will ask you questions such as specific software or job description items for the job you’re applying to.

Make sure you’ve reviewed the job description carefully and be able to talk to each of the bullet points.

How to prepare for HR Phone Screening questions

The best way to prepare for an HR Phone Screening interview is to practice the 6 questions over and over.

Ideally, you should be able to answer these questions at any point in time as this is crucial in make sure that you understand your role and accomplishments.

If you need additional practice, check out our mock interviewing service.

As a result of our mock interviewing service, we will ensure that you’re ready to tackle challenging interview questions.